Creating a horror game centered around A.I. isn't so far-fetched. Lots of games in other genres have been centered around self-thinking robots and programs taking over the world, so the idea is already going to be familiar. The tech industry's current fascination with A.I. is also a good catalyst for video game ideas. A.I.L.A runs with this idea, but what makes it fascinating is how it deals with A.I. going horribly wrong.

You play the role of Samuel, a game tester in the near future who's working from his apartment in Brazil. His latest work assignment is in VR with A.I.L.A, a new type of A.I. that's designed to craft new and ever-evolving experiences for the player to enjoy. As the testing goes on, Samuel notices that the A.I. is not only getting good at crafting certain experiences — horror games in this case — but it also seems to be invading more of his digital life than expected.

The preview build is split into three intertwined experiences. The first involves one of the game experiences that Samuel is testing, and it's called The Impossible House. To put it succinctly, this is a first-person rendition of a Saw-like experience. It takes place in an abandoned and decrepit series of rooms, where you'll experience joys such as ripping yourself from a crucifix, having to use eyes and severed fingers to open doors, and digging a pistol from a barbed wire-filled hole. It's purposefully unsettling, especially if you're squeamish about these things.

The most fascinating part of the experience is the use of a remote control that, when pointed at an active TV set, transports you to a different iteration of the rooms. This transforms the experience into a light puzzle game, as you'll go between dimensions to find the pieces needed to open new doors and progress in the story. Nothing can be considered difficult, as the game makes it obvious which things are important enough to be interacted with, but the game sacrifices some aspects of the horror experience in the process. In particular, the actual scare elements are toned down a bit. Jump-scares are minimal, and the use of music to ratchet up the fear is barely used. It's all about the gore, so the experience caters to that type of horror fan.

The second experience is titled Woman on the Road, and it also mimics another famous work of horror. In this case, it's Resident Evil: Biohazard, the seventh mainline game in the series that has you exploring a decrepit house in the middle of nowhere. Like The Impossible House, the experience doesn't go for jump-scares and relies on tone for its brand of horror. Shock and gore are replaced with disgust as you enter a house that has debris everywhere. Bloody bathrooms await you, and body parts are strewn all over. Unlike The Impossible House, the game doesn't immediately thrust you into the main horror set. You start off driving down a narrow, rainy road before picking up a hitchhiker and ending up in a car crash. The experience feels more complete as a story, and it also gives you more to do than just light puzzling because you can acquire weapons and fight off the monsters you encounter.

Based on the two experiences, you get the feeling that the full game will be about going through different homages to different horror games, only in a truncated form. None of the experiences so far are particularly deep, but they do a good job of keeping the experiences fresh. None of the experiences feel particularly polished, but this is actually a good thing, since the rougher experiences emulate what a tester goes through before a product can be considered finished. In that regard, the game does its job well.

Tying together all of this is the third experience, which is Samuel's life in his apartment. This is where the game transforms into something akin to a walking simulator, as you'll spend your time feeding the cat or picking up packages or setting things where they need to be. While this seems mundane, this ongoing experience is where you can glean lots of world lore, such as the proliferation of A.I. in life and the general rise of automation. It's also where you start to see how A.I.L.A starts to act away from the game, building up into the same type of horror as the other experiences where dread is more prevalent than shock, albeit in a more sterile environment with more subtlety.

So far, A.I.L.A is proving to be an interesting experience. It's set in the future, but the game's theme is hitting at just the right time to feel relevant. The homages to other horror experiences work in the game's favor, as does the fact that each "game" you play still needs some polish. There's enough material in the preview build to pique your interest, and we're curious to see how it all comes together when the full build hits later this year.